A peep into thousand years of the history of Sri VaishNavam : Part III

[Guest guest]

SrI :

 

Dear Fellow Students of the History of Sri VaishNavam :

 

Before we get to the time lines of the Kings , Emperors

who strutted the stages of historical India , we have to summarize

the time lines of our VaishNavite AchAryAs and see where they intersected

and impacted each other .

 

For reference purposes , we stated that the AzhwArs & AchAryA's times

span from the 3rd Century A.D ( Mudhal AzhwArs ) to the 9th Century A.D

( Thirumangai AzhwAr , the last of the AzhwArs) . Once again , let me state

that there are understandable problems in dating the exact times of the AzhwArs

..

 

Regarding the AchAryAs , We will start with Swamy Natha Muni ( 824-924 A.D)

and conclude with Swamy MaNavALa Maamuni ( 1370-1444 A.D) . A brief

coverage would be made to the current times .

 

In between Swamy Naatha Muni's times and today , there have been many AchAryAs ,

who grew VaishNavam to newer pinncales of excellence and that tradition

continues .

Here is a roaster in a chronological sense and AchArya-Sishya hierarchy . There

might be

some gaps and knowledgable devotees are requested to step in and correct . It

would

not be possible to include all sishyAs of a particuar AchAryan :

 

1. Naathamuni ( 824-924 A.D) , Sishyar of Swamy NammAzhwAr

 

2. PunDareekAkshar/UyyakkoNDAr ( 826-931 A.D), Sishyar of

Swamy Naatha Muni .

 

3. MaNakkAl Nambi / Raama Misrar ( 832-937 A.D) , AchAryan of

YaamunAchArya ( Swamy AaLavanthAr ) .

 

4. YaamunAchArya ( 916-1041 A.D ) , the grand son of Naatha Muni.

 

5. Sri Saila PoorNar/ Thirumalai Nambi ( 973-1073 A.D) ,

Uncle of AchArya RaamAnujA and one of the five AchAryAs

of Bhagavad RaamAnujA . He was the Sishyar of Swamy AaLavanthAr.

 

6. Periya Nambi ( b 998 A.D) , One of the five AchAryAs of

Bhagavad RaamAnujA . He is another sishyar of Swamy

AaLavanthAr . More information is available at :

 

http://www.srivaishnava.org/sva/pnambi.htm

 

7. AchArya RaamAnujA ( 1017-1137 A.D) , Many sishyAs , 74 SimhAsanAdhipathis

from whom the AasrayaNa Paramparai , Sri BhAshya Paramparai and

Bhagavad Vishaya Paramparais are traced .

 

8. Thirukkuruhai PirAn PiLLAn (Jn~Ana Puthran of Bhagavad RamaanujA )

and son of Sri Saila PoorNar /Thirumalai Nambi , author of 6000 PaDi ,

the first commentary on ThiruvAimozhi .

 

9. KurEsar ( 1010-1116 A.D ) or (1031-1137 A.D) ,

AchAryan of Thiruvarangatthu AmudanAr . Father of

both Swamy ParAsara Bhattar and Veda VyAsa Bhattar ,

who gave his eyes for the Darsanam .

 

10 . EmbAr ( 1026-1131 A.D) , Cousin of Bhagavad RaamAnujA,

AchAryan Of ParAsara Bhattar .

 

11. MadapaLLi AacchAn / Kidambi AacchAn ( 1057-1157 A.D ) ,

who performed MaDapaLLi Kaimkaryam for AchArya RaamAnujA

at the request of ThitukkOttiyUr Nambi , another AchAryan of

Bhagavad RaamAnujA.

 

12. NadAthUr AzhwAn/ Varada VishnumisrA ( 1165-1275 A.D ),

AchArya RaamAnujA's sister's son .

 

13. YengaL AazhwAn / VishNu Chitthar ( 1106-1206 A.D),

Sishyar of PiLLAn , Commentator on VishNu PurANam.

 

14. Thirumalai AaNpiLLai AnanthAzhwAn (b 1053 A.D) , who

volunteered to go to Thirumalai to perform Pushpa Kaimkaryam

at the behest of AchArya RaamAnujA .

 

15. AathrEya RaamAnujar ( 1220-1310 A.D) , Maternal uncle of

Swamy Desikan and latter's AchAryan .

 

16. Vatsya VaradAchArya /NadAthUr AmmAL ( 1165-1275 A.D) ,

The AchAryan of AthrEya RaamAnujar and Sudarsana Bhattar ,

the author of Srutha PrakAsikA .

 

17. ParAsara Bhattar ( b 1074 ) / Sri RangEsa Purohithar , the Elder son

Of Swamy KurEsar and ANDAL and AchAryan of Nanjeeyar .

 

12. Nanjeeyar ( b 1054) , Author of 9000 PaDi , who hailed from Melkote

prior to his losing the debate with Swamy ParAsara Bhattar.

 

13 . NampiLLai / LokAcchAr( b 1127 A.D) : Great Commentator on

ThiruvAimozhi .

 

14. Vadakku Thriuveethi PiLLai ( 1167-1264 A.D), Father of Swamy

PiLLai LokAcchAr and Azhagiya MaNavALa NaayanAr and

a distinguished sishyar of NampiLLai .

 

15. PeriyavAcchAn PILLai / KrishNa Suri ( b 1159) ,

VyAkhyAna Chakravarthy , who was another

distinguished sishyar of NampiLLai .

 

15. Swamy PiLLai LOkAcchAr ( 1205-1326 ) , anchor of

TennAchArya SampradhAyam ; author of Ashta Dasa

RahasyAs and the elder son of Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai .

 

16. Swamy VedAntha Desikar ( 1268-1369 A.D) , anchor of

Vadakalai SampradhAyam after AchArya RaamAnujA's time

and a contemproary of PiLLai LokAcchAr & Sudarsana Soori .

 

17. KumAra VaradAcchAr ( 1316-1401 A.D) , Son and Primary

disciple of Swamy Desikan .

 

18. Brahma Tantra Svatantrar ( 1286-1386 A.D) , Founder of

ParakAla Matam and Key disciple of Swamy Desikan .

More information about the Vaibhavam of the revered Jeeyar's

of Parakaala Matam is available at :

 

http://www.parakalamatham.org/welcome.shtml

 

19. PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram Annan ( 1300-1410 A.D) , a disciple of

both KumAra VaradhAcchAr first & Swamy MaNavALa Maamuni

later.

 

19. Adhi VaNN SaThakOpa Jeeyar ( 1378-1458 A.D ) , the Founding

Jeeyar of Ahobila Matam , who was initiated into SanyAsAsramam

by Lord Narasimhan at AhObila KshEthram . He iniitiated Swamy

MaNavALa Maamuni into SanyAsa Aasramam . Sri Ahobila Matam

has 45 illustrious Jeeyars until now . More information about

the Vaibhavam of Ahobila Matam Jeeyars are available at :

 

http://www.ahobilamutt.org/intro.html

 

 

20. ThiruvAimozhi PiLLai , AchAryan of Swamy MaNavALa Maamuni revered

as Periya Jeeyar .

 

21 . Swamy MaNavALa Maamuni ( 1370-1444 A.D) : VaanamAmalai Matam ,

Srirangam NaarAyaNa Jeeyar Matam , Thirumalai Jeeyar Matam and

Melkote YathirAja Matam & SrivilliputthUr Matam et al belong to this

SampradhAyam . adiyEn's web page for Swamy MaNavALa Maamuni

with Sri Haresh Balasubramanyan can be accessed at :

 

http://mamunigal.freeservers.com

 

22. Munithrayam SampradhAyam's illustrious founder was Theiukkudanathai

Gopala MahA Desikan ( 1700-1783 A.D) . He was a sishyar of SaakshAth

Swamy , who blessed us with the 24,000 paDi commentary for PiLLAn's

6000 Padi commentary of ThiruvAimozhi .Thirukudanthai Desikan

is the 15th descendant of Swamy AppuLLAr , the AchAryan of Swamy

Desikan . The current PeetAdhipathy of this illustrious matam is

HH SrimushNam Andavan , who celebrated his 71st birthday last

month at Srirangam . Poundarikapuram Andavan , HH Gopala MahA Desikan

is the current PeetAdhipathy of the PoundarIkapuram Andavan Aasramam

and has blessed us with comentaries for so many AzhwAr-AchArya

SrI Sookthis . The Vaibhavam of the Srirangam Srimath Andavan and

PoundarIkapuram Andavan Aasramam are covered at the following

web sites :

 

http://www.andavan.org

http://www.munitrayam.org/andavanashram

 

Much more information on AchArya Vamsa Vruksham are also available at:

 

http://Sriramanujar.tripod.com/Vamsa_vruksham.html

 

This excellent article is by Sri Anbil Ramaswamy .

 

http://www.Ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/nov97/0138.html

 

This article is by adiyEn .

 

Now that we have the chronology of AchArya lineage from

the Ninth Century to current day , let us link the political times

that the AchAryAs had to face to carry on with their divine missions .

 

We will start with Pallava Kings first and move on to ChOLaa and

Paandya-ChEra Kings later . We will see next as to how the kingdoms of

ChALukya , Rashtrakootaa , Sultanate of Delhi affected the kingdoms

of Southern part of India .

 

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappn Koil V.Sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AzhwAr , AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear Sri Dixit :

 

Your Message is most welcome and appropriate .

As the beloved SishyA of HH Sri Aadhi VaNN SaThakOpa

Jeeyar , Sri AnnamAchArya's NaadhOpAsanai about

the Lord Of Thirumalai and HIs divine Consort , Sri AlarmEl mangai

and AchArya Bhakthi reached heights of glory .

 

You are so right in pointing out the need to include

an avathAra Purushar , Sri Annamayyaa, whose music

reverberates across the seven hills even today and beyond

wherever bhakthAs of Lord SrinivAsa assemble .

 

NamO VenkatEsAya ,

V.Sadagopan

 

P.S : Please write about the krithis of Saint Annamayyaa

in Oppiliappan and Raama Bhakthi Lists . You probaly

are familiar with the excellent monograph by Professor

M.NarasimhAchAry , Editor of Sri Nrusimha PriyA about

Saint AnnamAchAryA's contributions to VisishtAdhAvaitham

released by TTD . Here Prof. M.N Swamy maps the thoughts of

Saint Annamyyaa to selected Paasurams of AzhwArs .

 

Please cover the rare krithis , where Saint AnnamayyA salutes

His AchAryan , Sri Adhi VaNN SaThakOpa Jeeyar . Thanks .

-

" Adviteeya Dixit " <visistadvit

<Oppiliappan >

Thursday, July 07, 2005 2:18 AM

Re: A peep into thousand years of the history of Sri

VaishNavam : Part III

 

 

> Sri Sri Lakshmi Hayagreeva Parabrahmane Namaha//

> Sri Parakal Yateendra Mahadesikaya Namaha//

>

 

> Sree:

 

> I would request you to consider mentioning the name of

> Tallapaka Annamacharya in the list of the history of

> SreeVaishnavism. Being the diciple of Sri Sri AdiVan

> Satakopa Jeer, Annamacharya studied the Sri Bhasyam

> and Ramayanam under his holiness and by the Acharyas

> grace, he has composed some 32,000 Sankirtanas, which

> are nothing but divine melodious forms of the tenets

> of Ramanuja siddantha.

 

> Not much is known about Annamacharya and his

> contibutions to Ramanuja Siddantha. It was his

> presence along with greats like Ahobilam Jeer,

> PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram Annan, etc that

> SreeVaishnavism flourished once again in the 15th

> century. His sankirtanas were hidden in a rock cell in

> the tirumala temple beside Sree Bhasyakarla Sannidhi

> and was found only in the 1950's. SreeVaishnavas DO

> NOT really know about the immense contributions he has

> made to our sampradayam, and i feel that it is our

> duty to give him the due respect when we speak of our

> purvacharyas.

>

> Out of his 32,000 kirtanas,14000 are available, and

> not one is on any other deity than Sriman Narayana.

> The only kirtanas which are not on Narayana are a few

> on Ramanuja, who was Annamacharyas 'Speaking God' (as

> he calls him) and one was on SRi SRi Adivan Satakopa

> Jeer.

 

> Every sankirtana is faithfully adherent to the

> commandments of Ramanuja. You will be surprised to

> know that some of the sankirtanas have words verbatim

> from Ramanujas bhashyas or Alwar Pasurams.

>

> M.S Subbulakshmi has rendered some excellent

> sankirtanas of Annamacharya in the balaji

> pancharatnamala series. The notable ones are:

> 1) Tolliyunu Marraku- kirtana on Srirangam Ranganatha

> 2) Vande Vasudevam- kirtana sung in praise of kanchi

> Varadaraja

> 3)Sriman Narayana- a kirtana based on the Dvayam

> 4)Bhavamu Lona- a kirtana summarizing the supremacy of

> Sriman Narayana

> 5) Entamatramuna- a kirtana declaring that the deity

> at Tirumala is none other than Lord Narayana

>

> Please listen to these songs carefully and analyze the

> Visistadvaita bhavam in Annamacharyas Sankirtanas. You

> will realize what a great SreeVaishnava he is.

>

> sadly, his name is always left out. I feel that it is

> not right to ignore such a great contribution made to

> Ramanujas Siddantham by this Parama bagavatha. Though

> no school of Ramanuja recognizes his contributions, i

> never forget to chant his Taniyan when i think of our

> purvacharyas. If his name is left out, it is like

> leaving out one precious gem from the garland of

> SreeVaishnava acharyas.

>

> it is my sincere request that Adiyen help me in

> propogating the contributions of Annamacharya. i am

> willing to share with the group some very brilliant

> sankirtanas of annamacharya that contain the nectar of

> the teaching of Ramanuja matham. I assure you that

> reading every single one of them will be an exhuberant

> experience and will enlighten us on the great life of

> Annamacharya, the amsa of nandaka, - the true follower

> of Ramanujas divine commandments.

>

> Please tell me you opinion Adiyen.

>

> Yours Respectfully,

> With all humility,

>

> Adviteeya

 

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

 

>> 19. Adhi VaNN SaThakOpa Jeeyar ( 1378-1458 A.D ) ,

>> the Founding

>> Jeeyar of Ahobila Matam , who was initiated

>> into SanyAsAsramam

>> by Lord Narasimhan at AhObila KshEthram . He

>> iniitiated Swamy

>> MaNavALa Maamuni into SanyAsa Aasramam .

>> Sri Ahobila Matam

>> has 45 illustrious Jeeyars until now . More

>> information about

>> the Vaibhavam of Ahobila Matam Jeeyars are

>> available at :

>>

>> http://www.ahobilamutt.org/intro.html

>>

[Guest guest]

Sri Sri Lakshmi Hayagreeva Parabrahmane Namaha//

Sri Parakala Yateendra Mahadesikaya Namaha//

 

The source of Annamcharyas life is the work

" Annamacharya Jeevithacharitramu " by Tallapaka

chinnanna, the grandson of Annmacharya. Since i was

fortunate enough to read the work extensively, i will

share the contents of this divine work with everyone.

 

In the prologue to the works, Chinnanna mentions....

 

" .... it is right on my part to sing the praises of

Annmayya because he was the one , O lord Hari, who

taught us that the tongue which praises You, must not

praise any other; he was the one who made us realize

that the philosophy of 'Lakshmana Guru' is the

flawless one and the good path....... "

 

The reference here is to Ramanujacharya (Annamacharya

was the Acharya for his sons and grandsons and he

would always teach them - " Lakshmana Guru Mathamu

Sanmathamu " )

 

The work of chinnanna also mentions the interactions

between Annmacharya and Sri Sri Adi van satakopa Jeer.

It will be interesting however to note that

Annamcharya had his Panchasamskara by another sage ,

by the name Ghana Vishnu, when he was at the young age

of 8-10 yrs.

Not much is known about who this Ghana Vishna was,

except that he was a great Vaishnava devotee living on

Tirumala. chinnanna mentions that Lord

Tiruvenkatamudiyan Himself appeared to Ghana Vishnu

and instructed him to initiate Annamacharya with

Panchasamskara. He left behind the Mudras of the

Shanka Chakra with Ghana Vishnu fir this purpose.

 

Interestingly, his Guru and Acharya Adi Van Satakopa

Jeer was also initaited by Lord Narasimha Himself,

into Sanyyasa. It was but Divine Will that destined

these two great beings to meet each other and share

the relationship of Acharya-Sisya.

 

Another interesting point i would like to mention....

 

The work of Chinnanna , i would say would have been

composed somewhere in the mid 1500 (1520-1560).

Annamacharya himself lived between 1408-1503 BC. And

sampradayam dates rightly place Adi Van Jeer a litle

anterior to this. Now, Satakopa Jeer as we know ,

visited Tirumala atleast twicw after he became the

jeer of ahobilam, and established maths at Tirupati

and Tirumala. No doubt of the fact that he was the

pioneer among the Sreevaishnava Acharyas during the

late 1400 and early 1500, and so his popularity grew

amongst the srivaishnava followers. Annmacharya at

that time was in Tirumala at a very young age, and it

is but likely that he was attracted by the divine

personallty of Adi Van Satakopa. Annamacharya himself

was involved in many miracles when he arrived at

Tirumala at the age of 8 y and the Vaikhanasa priests

knew that he was no ordinary being. Adi Van stakopa ,

in all possibility might have also heard of the

greatness of Annamacharya and accepted him as his

diciple.

 

It is most interesting to note the way Chinnanna

describes the Acharya lineage of Annamacharya. In his

work , he mentions

 

" ......Annamacharya studied the Vedas, Vedanta,

Vedangas, the art of Worship of Hari, the art of

meditating upon Hari and the art of praising Hari from

his divine guru, Sri Satakopa Jeer who was initiated

into the order of Sannyasa by Lord Narasimha Himself

and who was the follower of 'Sarva Tantra Swatantra'

Vedanta Desika- the one in front of whom Lord

Hayagriva had manifested. Thus Annamacharya became the

diciple of the Vedanata Desika Sampradayam. ........ "

 

Now there are a few interesting things to note....

 

1) the fact that Sri Adi Van Satakop Jeer was

initiated by Lord Narasimha Himself is clearly

confirmed by this divine work ( this work was also

hidden until mid 1900, and so serves as an excellent

window to the period of 1500 AD)

 

2) The fact that Lord Hayagriva manifested before

Vedanata Desika is also mentioned in this work

 

3) The word 'Vedanata Desika Smpradayamu' is used in

the work, indicating that, probably, the divide

between the two great sects of Ramanuja smpradayam had

just begun!

(I am not trying to create any differences here, but

merely trying to indicate the interseting fact.)

 

 

4) The work also clearly mentions that Sri Adi van

Satakopa was the follower of Sarva Tantra Swatantra

Vedanta Desika

 

Not that these facts were unknown, but the reason i

mention all these is that in so far we have known all

these things from works of SriVaishnava disciplinic

succession and mordern historians always bring up the

topic of texts being altered and information being

added. But see this work of Tallapaka Chinanna -

having been composed as early as in mid 1500's it was

unfound until late 1900-- a gap of almost 500 years,

and this pure text reproduces the facts that we have

always known, only to make our faiths stronger.

 

.......will continue tomorrow.

 

Srimathe ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vedanata Gurave Namo Namaha

Sri Tallapaka Gurudeva Namao Namashte//

 

 

Paramabagavatha Daasan

 

Adviteeya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--- sgopan <sgopan wrote:

 

> SrI:

>

> Dear Sri Dixit :

>

> Your Message is most welcome and appropriate .

> As the beloved SishyA of HH Sri Aadhi VaNN SaThakOpa

> Jeeyar , Sri AnnamAchArya's NaadhOpAsanai about

> the Lord Of Thirumalai and HIs divine Consort , Sri

> AlarmEl mangai

> and AchArya Bhakthi reached heights of glory .

>

> You are so right in pointing out the need to include

> an avathAra Purushar , Sri Annamayyaa, whose music

> reverberates across the seven hills even today and

> beyond

> wherever bhakthAs of Lord SrinivAsa assemble .

>

> NamO VenkatEsAya ,

> V.Sadagopan

>

> P.S : Please write about the krithis of Saint

> Annamayyaa

> in Oppiliappan and Raama Bhakthi Lists . You probaly

> are familiar with the excellent monograph by

> Professor

> M.NarasimhAchAry , Editor of Sri Nrusimha PriyA

> about

> Saint AnnamAchAryA's contributions to

> VisishtAdhAvaitham

> released by TTD . Here Prof. M.N Swamy maps the

> thoughts of

> Saint Annamyyaa to selected Paasurams of AzhwArs .

>

> Please cover the rare krithis , where Saint

> AnnamayyA salutes

> His AchAryan , Sri Adhi VaNN SaThakOpa Jeeyar .

> Thanks .

 

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Respected Sri Sadagopan sir,

 

My humble prostrations to you.

Thank you for your prompt reply. I will share on this

groups , all that i know about the greatness of

Annmacharya and his sankirtanas. Please note that

since i do not have access to many other srivaishnava

groups, i will be more than thankful if you could

forward my emails to all the groups. This is my

earnest request.

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Daasan

Adviteeya

 

--- sgopan <sgopan wrote:

 

> SrI:

>

> Dear Sri Dixit :

>

> Your Message is most welcome and appropriate .

> As the beloved SishyA of HH Sri Aadhi VaNN SaThakOpa

> Jeeyar , Sri AnnamAchArya's NaadhOpAsanai about

> the Lord Of Thirumalai and HIs divine Consort , Sri

> AlarmEl mangai

> and AchArya Bhakthi reached heights of glory .

>

> You are so right in pointing out the need to include

> an avathAra Purushar , Sri Annamayyaa, whose music

> reverberates across the seven hills even today and

> beyond

> wherever bhakthAs of Lord SrinivAsa assemble .

>

> NamO VenkatEsAya ,

> V.Sadagopan

>

> P.S : Please write about the krithis of Saint

> Annamayyaa

> in Oppiliappan and Raama Bhakthi Lists . You probaly

> are familiar with the excellent monograph by

> Professor

> M.NarasimhAchAry , Editor of Sri Nrusimha PriyA

> about

> Saint AnnamAchAryA's contributions to

> VisishtAdhAvaitham

> released by TTD . Here Prof. M.N Swamy maps the

> thoughts of

> Saint Annamyyaa to selected Paasurams of AzhwArs .

>

> Please cover the rare krithis , where Saint

> AnnamayyA salutes

> His AchAryan , Sri Adhi VaNN SaThakOpa Jeeyar .

> Thanks .

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

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